Product Tests

05/15/2012

I have always looked at instant coffee as being a good way to waste a fine cup of hot water. However a recent test of the stuff found there is some instants that are actually worth drinking. Coming in as the best is Starbucks Via Columbia. But what's cool is some of the names on the list I had never heard of: Jacobs Kronung? Bustelo Supreme?

09/07/2011

You have no doubt noticed cereal boxes are skinnier and your candy bars are smaller, but the package isn’t. Quarts of ice cream aren’t really quarts anymore and that pound of coffee, isn’t a pound either. If you are thinking you are paying more at the grocery store you are right, you just aren’t paying more per item… the items are getting smaller.

07/20/2011

New lower lead limits for children's products. Starting on August 14, 2011, manufacturers, importers, retailers and distributors of children’s products must comply with new federal limits for total lead content.

06/06/2011

The Food and Drug Administration is dragging its feet and that is making you less safe in the sun. The agency was to release new sunscreen rules... four years ago... and still nothing. The Environmental Working Group, though, has issued its controversial annual sunscreen report. Its scientists say most sunscreens are either unsafe or not effective.

10/18/2010

There’s a lot of good reasons to shop at Costco, now add this to the list: microbrews worth buying. Consumer Reports blind taste-tested the beers and they were pronounced, “party worthy.” Here’s what Costco isn’t telling you, but a quick search of the internet uncovers; the microbrewery making the stuff is a hometown favorite. Here on the west coast the Costco beer is brewed by Hopfen und Malz Brewing Company in San Jose. Huh? Turns out that is really Gordon Biersch. So shop Costco, get good beer prices, employ local folks.

09/08/2010

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has tested 72 booster seats for children between the ages of 4 and 8. There's a lot of good to pick from, but some that should be passed up. Researchers didn’t perform crash tests – that’s done for baby seats - because in these bigger models it is the seat belt that protects the child. The Institute instead looked at how well the booster seat positioned the seat belt. Good places for the safety belt are across a child's upper thighs - not the stomach - and across the mid-shoulder - not at the neck.